Black Dreams
by Nagoshi Ashumari
Summary: Shadow the hedgehog, the ultimate life form right? But what happens when Sonic turns him and everone else into humans... Shadow has to turn himself back to normal and finish Doctor Eggmans machine, before Sonic drives him mad.
1. A Foolish Mistake

When you think Shadow you don't tend to think of a small little hedgehog. But I am no ordinary hedgehog. My name is Shadow the Hedgehog and I am the ultimate life form.

On a cold and cloudy day I walked down the road a small package in my hand. I was going to Dr. Eggmans hideout to give him one of the 7 chaos emeralds I have found. As I walked I could here the very faint sound of thunder in the distance.

After about 30 minuets of walking by myself in the rain I herd a twig snap. I turned back in a heartbeat. I didn't see anything, yet. I decided to keep going it was more important to get to Dr. Eggman than to chance down some stupid animal walking a little to close to him then they should.

I walked on and after a little longer another twig broke. I looked back and again saw nothing. I turned back to the road and started to walk a little faster then I was before.

This time I didn't wait I turned around and saw a flash of blue. "Sonic..." I said to myself. I kept walking and slowly started to run down the wet road, and once I reached a certain speed my jet sneakers turned on and I dashed forward.

I turned my head and saw another dash of blue. "That stupid hedgehog is going to ruin my plans..." I said speeding up. "If he is that dumb to follow me than fine let him." Who was I kidding this was Sonic he was going to follow me.

I sped up I was almost there and before I could get to the door a blue hedgehog appeared in front of me. And we both stopped running. We were both standing right in front of the door of Eggman's hideout.

"Shadow you shouldn't be running around by yourself..." He said grabbing for the box in my hand. I turned and he almost fell. "What are you doing way out here anyways?" He said with his dorky smile.

"I will do whatever I want and my business is my business. Now get out of my way." I said pushing him down.

"Come on Shadow you can trust me!" He said getting up.

I rolled my eyes a little. "Move hedgehog or I will move you myself."

He stood in front of the door. "Oh how do you plan on doing that?" He said looking at me.

I clenched my fist and threw a punch at him. But he disappeared. I took the only chance I had and pushed in the code to get in. "M-A-R-I-A..." I whispered to myself as I pushed the buttons. The door opened and as soon as it did I ran in. I looked back as the door closed. "Now all I need to do is hope that fake of a hedgehog doesn't get in." I said as I turned to the building.

The so-called base of doctor Eggman had more metal in it than I thought it would be. Every wall was a titanium based metal and it looked like not much could get in. I walked down the metal hallway headed toward the core. The doctor had an experiment that would supposedly get rid of that fake of a hedgehog Sonic... Lets all prey it works...

As I walked I couldn't help but feel I was being followed. I turned back and saw nothing. But there was no place to hide because unless you're either grey or a robot you would stick out on the grey metal walls floor and ceiling. So I decided it was nothing.

The deeper I went into the core the more robots appeared; they were all Eggman's. You could tell simply because they all had that fat egg shape to them just as there creator did. They were easy to ignore, all working on a different project that had to be finished.

I walked further and further into the building. Eventually I saw Eggman hovering over his computer typing like mad. "Doctor I have retrieved the chaos emerald you required." I said walking over to him and placing the small box next to him.

He looked over at it and evilly smiled. "Good." He said slowly unwrapping it. What he held in his hand was a yellow chaos emerald it was beautiful yet powerful. "Now that the machine is ready all we have to do is slip the emerald in there." He said pointing to a hole the same shape as the emerald. "And Sonic will be destroyed." He said evilly.

A blue blur wisped by and gabbed the emerald from the doctor's hands. I looked over at the blur witch had stopped and the idiotic blue hedgehog was throwing the emerald into the air and catching it like some foolish child.

"Give that back." I said getting more and more angry every horrible second I spent with him.

"Give it back." He said mocking me. He walked over to the machine and looked at it. "So what does this one do doctor?" He asked actually thinking Eggman would tell him what it did.

"None of your business now give it back!" I yelled at him, cutting Eggman off.

"Come on Shadow I just want to know what it does!" He said starting to put the emerald in the machine.

"NO YOU FOOL!!!" I yelled trying to stop him from putting the emerald in the unpredictable machine.

"Oh so you don't WANT me to do that." He said taking it out.

"Good choice now give it here." I said walking over to him.

I put my hand out to take the emerald and when I almost had it her shoved it into the machine. "TO LATE!!" He said smiling. I looked at the machine in horror. The emerald fit perfectly and it had started to glow. I grabbed Sonic by the collar and lifted him up. "YOU FOOL!!!! Look what you did!!!!" I yelled in his face.

"What it cant be that ba..." He was cut off by the machines noises. It started to glow and a light came out of it small at first but growing and covering everything.

"You...you...fool..." I said before I passed out...


	2. New Faces

"Hello..." An unfamiliar voice said.

"Hello..." She said this time poking me in the head a few times. I slowly opened my restless eyes. The first thing I saw was a small human girls face two inches from my face. As soon as she saw that I was awake she smiled. "Hello there sleepy." She said in the same annoying voice Sonic had.

I sat up and glared at her smiling at me. I ignored her. I hated getting involved with the human race unless I had to... they were a waist of time and energy to me.

I got up and slowly examined my surroundings more. I was in some sort of field, there was ...human children in the middle running around and chasing each other like idiots. Surrounding the field there were buildings and people walking in and out of them, all carrying big bags full of useless junk. In front of some of the buildings were various signs saying things from Windrose Avenue to things like 68th St. The sign that proved any use was in front of a oak tree and it said but two words... Seveos Park.

When I looked back at the girl she was still smiling with her dorky smile. It was then I noticed she was about half the size of me and she was missing a few of her front teeth... great...a human child...

"What do you want..." I said to her.

"Nothing, I just saw you sleeping there." She said pointing at the floor were I was lying. "So I woke you up."

I clenched my fist angrily. "And WHY did you do that?"

She smiled bigger. "Because someone might step on you silly." She said pointing at the people walking by, all staring at me like I was some sort of weirdo.

"Humph" I said walking off angrily.

She ran after me. "Wait don't you want someone to walk with?"

"I don't need anyone to walk." I said not even looking back.

She grabbed my arm and pulled it back. "But you can't be alone all the time!" She said pulling my arm back further.

I pulled my arm back and pointed at her. "Hay! Now you listen here..." I stopped when I saw my hand. It was no longer in the familiar white glove it had always been in...it was...was tan like a... I feared the thought and looked at my arm in disbelieve, it was tan but it was surrounded in a black jacket with a red line running from the wrist all the way to my elbow ending in a point. I grabbed the collar of my jacket; it had a thin red line going from the back of it all the way down to the very tip of the zipper. My shirt was black as well but it had a red ring around the collar of it and it had a familiar shape in the middle...but... I couldn't tell exactly why... horrified I looked down at my feet. I was wearing dark blue denim pants. Thankfully my shoes were still the same familiar jet sneakers on.

I slowly looked up at the girl, who was still smiling. I realized then that I was no longer Shadow the Hedgehog but Shadow the...the...human...


	3. An Anoying Walk

"What you looken at?" The little girl said staring at me.

I ignored her, she was no use to me... besides... I have more important things to do. I started to walk off, but the persistent little thing walked right in front of me and waved her hand in my face. "Hello?" She said in the most annoying tone possible.

I moved her hand away and walked on. She ran next to me again and looked at me angrily. "Are you ignoring me?" She asked putting her small hands on her hips.

"What ever gave you that idea?" I said coldly walking in front of her again.

Honestly I had no idea were I was going; I just had to get somewhere quiet so I could think. That meant away from this...this... this thing.

She started waving her hands around in the air. "Hay!!!!" She ran ahead of me and just stood still.

I looked at her like I looked at Sonic. I stopped in front of her and there was silence... for once.

"Well are you going to move?" I said looking at her. She shook her head a little and crossed her arms and looked up at me.

"First you have to promise you wont ignore me!" She said.

I didn't say anything; she couldn't possibly hang around much longer. I just walked on ahead of her again. This time she ran in front of me and shoved her hand in my face again. I moved it away. "Look kid, don't you have anything better to do?" I said angrily.

She smiled dorkaly showing the gap in her teeth. "Nope!"

I tried to ignore her smiling there and I started to walk off again. The girl followed me. "Fine if you ignore me then I will just keep on talking until you stop ignoring me!" She said. I thought she would talk too much... she was only about 6.

...

Boy was I wrong. My gosh she wouldn't shut up! I mean how many things could a little human kid talk about! She followed me as I circled the park about 5 times trying to lose her... every step she took she said something either stupid… pointless… or both…

I walked on ignoring the girl following me like a shadow. People started to stare at me now more than ever. I don't blame them either, this girl who wont shut up is following a guy wearing a black jacket on a farley warm day.

This pointless and annoying talking of hers went on, and on and on... I was almost about to jump back at her and scar her away when something someone said caught my attention.

All I could hear over the girls blabbering was "This weird boy………Bright blue spiky hair... running in circles... Idiot."

I didn't even have to look to know that was what they were talking about...

Sonic...


	4. Finding Sonic

I walked a little faster in the direction of the people's voices, trying not to look suspicious. The little girl followed me and asked "Where are you going?"

I ignored her again I really didn't have time to deal with her right now. I started to run.

The girl chased after me but she couldn't keep up, after a little bit of running and ignoring the girl behind me yelling at me to stop, I herd something. It was someone talking fast and in a tone that only one person had... Sonic...

I walked in the direction of it and when I saw a a person running in circles I stopped. When the boy stopped running I could notice a few things about him. He had spiky bright blue hair, he was wearing a shirt that had a gold ring painted on it, and he was wearing blue pants and some sneakers...Sonics sneakers...oh great...

He looked at me tilted his head and walked over to me. "Hay I'm Sonic!!!" He said other things but I couldn't hear because he was talking to fast. He stopped talking and looked at me."... you look familiar."

I hit my forehead. "I'm Shadow you idiot." I said flatly.

He started laughing "Ya right!"

"Ya I am right the chaos crystal you put in the machine set it into a melt down!!!!!" I said angrily.

He smiled and backed away slowly. "Ok kid, whatever you say... I think you should lay off the sugar for a while..."

I cut in. "**IT'S ME YOU FAKER!!!!!!!!**" I yelled without thinking.

He stopped walking back and looked at me closely. He tilted is head again. "Shadow?"

"Yes..." I said stopping myself from punching him in the face.

"Have you gotten taller?" He said stupidly.

"NO I GOT TURNED INTO A HUMAN!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled.

He just stared at me in silence for a while. He started to laugh. He fell to the floor and started rolling around laughing.

"I wouldn't be laughing pinecone head... your a human to." I pointed out to him.

He stopped laughing and jumped up. He looked at his hands. He flipped them over to see the bottom, he flipped them back over again...and again...and again...and again...

He smiled really big and started to run circles again **_"ISNTTHISAWSOMEIMAHUMANYOURAHUMANICANRUNFASTINCIRCLSYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!"_** He said so fast that I could barley understand him. I stuck my foot out in front of were he was running and he tripped and fell flat on his face. He got up and started jumping up and down in front of me.

"You really thing this is a _GOOD_ thing?" A asked my eyes following him jumping around. I was hopping that little girl wouldn't find me... I am not going to baby-sit to idiots.

He smiled "Well ya! Haven't you ever wondered what its like to be a human?"

"I really couldn't care less." I said coldly.

"Well I have!" He said pointing to himself.

"Well I'm not you am I..." I said looking around. I could see the small girl running around looking for me. "And I am going to fix this mistake..." I promised myself.


	5. Shut up Sonic!

As I started to walk of Sonic followed me. "Shadow?" 

I stopped walking and looked at him "Yes..." I said grinding my teeth.

"Were you going?" he said stupidly.

"None of your concern..." I said walking on.

He jumped in front of my and had his smelly face an inch from mine. He smiled "Can I come?"

"No." I said flatly.

"_Please!_" He said annoyingly.

"_NO_."

"**PLEASE!!!!!!!!!**"

"**NO**"

"_**PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_"

"_**NO!!!!!!!!!**_" At this point I was ready to punch him in the jaw just to shut him up.

"Come on _**PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**_" He stopped to take a quick breath "_**EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**_" I covered his mouth.

"**SHUT UP!!!!!** Gees you sound like a broken computer!" I said. He tried to talk but must have forgot that I had my and over his moth.

I removed my hand instantly, I didn't want him spitting on me... That was the wrong thing to do as soon as I moved my hand away he yelled "_**PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...**_" I covered his moth again.

"Ok you can come if you **_SHUT UP!!!!!!_**" I yelled at him. I looked around, from what I could see everyone in the park was staring at us. I kept looking and I could see the annoying girl running after me. I grabbed Sonics wrist and started to run forward.

He started running when he realized that I was dragging him along. "Hay Shadow where you going?"

"For now anywhere but here." I said running faster.

Sonic looked back and saw the girl, he nearly fell over. He looked at me ad smiled. "Shadow are you running from her?"

I started to run faster, ignoring his question.

He started to slow down and instead of stopping I just ran faster dragging him along.

Sonic started running to other way to slow me down. "Sonic cut it out!" I yelled at him.

"Come on Shadow she doesn't look that bad!" He said running faster.

The girl got closer and closer, when she was about 3-4 yards away I let go of Sonics wrist and he went flying toward the girl. They crashed and I ran off. I didn't bother looking back I just kept on running. When I got to an old rusted down building I stopped and went inside.

It looked just like the doctors base except older and there were no robots around. I kept walking and font the stairs in the same place as they were in the doctor's base...

I walked threw the building until I reached the heist point. I sat down and closed my eyes and started to think.

It was quiet, if a pin were to drop downstairs I would be able to here it...good... now I can think, at least until that fake of a hedgehog finds me...

* * *


	6. Rouge?

I sat there for what seemed like hours. Silently thinking of where I was and how I was going to get out.

I got up to look around the abandoned building. When I entered it earlier it looked to much like Dr. Eggmans base. Every room I entered looked just as it had in his base just rusted and worn out. The only thing that came to mind at that moment was time travel but that couldn't be true, the machine the doctor made was to destroy Sonic not go threw time... or... maybe it was to send him to another time...

I walked on and finally got to the core, where the machine was that sent us here. It was there... but like everything else it was broken... Its monitor was smashed into thousands of pieces, the buttons and knobs on it burned or smashed. Everything was in ruins it looked like it was beyond repair...except... the slot where that fake of a hedgehog shoved the chaos emerald in wasn't broken... it wasn't even there... It looked as if someone simply took it off and walked out...

I sat there a while more, my fire red eyes fixed on the machine, and my tan human hand placed on the missing slot that the crystal would have been. My concentration was all on the machine at that time, my senses soaking in every detail of it...I was in complete silence...until... a noise a few floors away from me broke my concentration. It sounded like someone was entering the building. I took my hand away from the machine and silently ran out of the room to see who in their right mind would come in here...

Silently and carefully I made my way threw the familiar hallway, as the unfamiliar footsteps come closer and closer with every passing second. Whoever they were they seemed to know this place as well as I did. Their steps at a constant pace... never slowing down... if anything they were speeding up towards my direction.

I walked a while more and when I turned a corner I ran into the person who was walking around. We both fell down and I was the first one to get up. "Watch where you going!" I said looking at the persons white hair.

When she stood up I knew who it was almost instantly. She was young about 18 yet she had per white hair; she had deep turquoise eyes, and a skintight leather outfit that fit her slim figure perfect. The outfit was Rouges outfit... The person in front of me was Rouge the treasure hunter.

As I looked at her trying to get used to the human Rouge she dusted herself off. Still looking down and away from me she said in an angry voice. "Well why don't you watch were your going you jerk..." She stopped when she saw me. She looked at my black spiky hair with red highlights, at my face, and down to my jet boots. "Sha-Shadow?" She said puzzled looking at my red eyes.

"Yes." I said simply.

"Are you a..." She said.

"A human." I said cutting her off. "Yes."

"But how? Why?" She said her face still confused.

"I have on word for you." I said crossing my arms. "Sonic."

"You mean SONIC DID THIS!!!!!!!!!!" She said almost yelling in my face. "HE TURNED US INTO HUMANS!" She said louder now.

I covered her mouth so she wouldn't be so loud. "Yes he did. And keep your voice down I don't want him finding me... I already had to baby-sit him once today and that's enough for me."

She smiled under my hand. She grabbed my hand with her white-gloved hand and took it off of her mouth almost throwing it down. "You babysat him?" She said smiling still.

"This is SONIC anytime you are around him you are baby sitting him." I said looking at her. She started laughing more. "So why are you here?" I said changing the subject.

"I was looking for a way out of this mess." She said walking around a little. "What about you?"

"My reasons are my own." I said coldly.

"Come on Shadow don't be like that." She said crossing her arms. "Why are you here?" She repeated her question.

"I said my reasons are my own." I repeated walking away from her.

"Fine, were are you headed now?" She said following me around.

I ignored her. I stopped walking and turned to her "Rouge what was the last thing you remember before you got tuned into a human?" I said suddenly.

"The last thing I remember? I was in Dr. Eggmans base fighting Knuckles for a chaos emerald." She said looking at me. "Why?"

"Nothing..." I said walking out again. "Did you see Knuckles after that?" I said again still walking on.

"What is this interrogation? No I didn't I woke up by a fountain... Alone." She said looking at me her arms still crossed.

I walked out of the building into the sunlight. I looked around before walking any further. I didn't see Sonic or hat girl... Thankfully.

I walked on and Rouge followed me. "Shadow where are you going?"

I ignored her again. "Don't you have anything better to do than follow me?"

"No." She said looking at me.

I growled a little, I was a human but I still had my fangs. I looked at her and crossed my arms. "Leave me alone." I said cross.

"Why should I? " She said getting annoying quick.

"Because I told you to now go." I said still cross.

"I will follow you if I want!" She said walking closer to me.

I turned and walked more. If she really wanted to follow me then fine her choise but I wasn't going to make it easy for her. I started to run. She followed me running after me yelling to stop and wait. I ran faster my jet boots turned on and I dashed forward. I ran until I could no longer hear the cursing Rouge behind me. I didn't know were I was but I was alone. Good.

I looked around, I was surrounded by trees and some rocks, no one was around me. I looked at the sky. I t was getting dark. Soon I would have to stop and call it a night.

I built a small fire to keep myself warm during the night. I had no idea what it was like here... But as far as I could tell it wasn't so different then what I was used to. I sat by the fire and lied down thinking of what to do now. Sonic, Rouge and possibly Knuckles were turned to humans and sent here with me. The only thing I could think of was to find Eggman or a relative of his to fix the machine so it would send him to his normal time. But I didn't have the slightest idea were to start.

I fell asleep looking at the stars my mind full of ideas and questions that needed to be answered.


	7. Leave Me Alone Rouge

I woke up the next morning but didn't open my eyes yet, I was still tired. This stupid human body I was in tired faster than my normal hedgehog state. I slowly rolled over and landed on something soft and warm...wait... My red eyes shoot open and what I saw was sleeping Rouge her face only a few inches from my own. "HOLLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled in her face.

Her eyes opened and saw me a few inches from her. She started to scream as well and we both screamed as I jumped away from her. She stood and dusted herself off "Gosh Shadow I didn't order a wake up call." She said after we stopped screaming.

"Well when I woke up this morning I didn't expect to see you right in front of my face!" I said almost yelling at her.

She crossed her arms. "Well sorry Shadow. I followed you and when I found you I sat next to the tree and fell asleep." She explained. "So Mr. Grumpy, why did you run off?" She said looking at me with her blue eyes.

"Thats for me to know and you to never find out." I said cross. "Come on Shadow don't be so mad." She said talking to me like she did back at the ARK a whiles back.

I started walking off, ignoring her. "Shadow where are you going?" She said following me into the dence forest.

"Wherever I want." I said walking on. She didn't say anything, she just kept following me.

The trees around us where tall and the leaves were the same green as the trees back home. Looking around there where small little animals running around hiding from the strange giants walking around the forest. After a while she looked ahed into the forest. "You know Shadow the further we get the longer you have to be with me." She said smiling. "Knowing you,you wont like that much."

I looked back at her. "Shut up." I said looking ahead agein. She was right though I had no idea where I was going I turned the opisit direction and started to walk back to the city.

"I'm just saying..." she said walking behind me the whole time.

"I said!" I said cutting her off. "SHUT UP." I said walking on.

"Why don't you come here and make me?" She said crossing her arms.

"That wont be necisary." I said stopping and looking back at her.

"Oh? And why not?"

"Because if you arn't careful then I will just run off and dump you here." I said glaring at her. "So shut up." She instantly grew silent. "Good. Now stay like that." I said walking onward agein.

We walked on into the forest getting either deeper into it or further away. My words eilyer cept Rouge quiet as we walked,good the less noise from her the better.

As I looked around things looked more femiler to the city forest then the wild forest like the white jungle back at my home. "We are getting closer to the city." I finaly said.

"Oh really how are you so sure about that?" She said crossing her gloved arms.

I looked back at her for a moment. "I wonder..."I moved some branches and vines surounding a metal post. I hold out my hand pointing to a rather large sighn that said 'Welcome to Jinaroon' clearly the city we were in before.

She looked at the sign and her face seemed to go blank. "Oh..." She said walking into the city. "Well come on lets get going." She said. I started toward the city and saw Sonics blue hair, he was with that hyper activ kid and they were walking around in the city smiling like the idiots they seemed to be.

I takled Rouge to the floor and the impact made a rather large crashing sound. It bothered me to be so close to her but anything was beter than Sonic and that kid he was with. Rouge looked at he like I was mad. "Shadow what on Earth are you doing get off of me!" She started to yell. I covered her mouth until Sonic and that kid where out of sight. I stood and brushed myself off. "Shadow I don't think now is a time to be getting romantic."She said looking at me.

I looked at her just the thought of it made me think 'Ew...' She semed to say that to anyone getting to close to her that was trying to help. "I would never do something like that withought a reson." I said turning away from her. "Not like anyone would want you anyways." I said quite harsh.

Before I knew it something hard hit me on the back of the head and I fell over uncontious.

((Sorry bout the spelling errors... my spell checker is broken on my computer... not like it ever worked anyways))


	8. Did you say ROBOTNIC?

I slowly regained concesness. I didn't open my eyes all I could do was listen and feel what was around me, now I could not move. I could tell I was on a nice soft bed and I had a warm wet rag on my head...or a warm wet... something. I could tell I was clearly nocked out by something hard. I could only hear some people off in the distance but I relaxed and started to sleep again. I moaned a little thought, my head hert like I was hit with a brick.

Before I fell asleep something walked in and said, "Look guys he is awake!" The stranger said clearly happy. After this some random people started to run to te door, I started to sit up but fell, someone cought me and held me up. "Calm down Mr. Grumpy you are in good care." A familiar Rouge said.

I slowly opened my eyes to find a blured Rouge not far from me. "Wha...what happened?" I asked.

"Well... I have to say that was my fault you ended up like this..." She said slowly backing herself away from me.

I looked at her my vision becomeing more clear now. "What do you meen it was your fault?" I said in a strong and angry voice.

"Well I kinda... kicked you in thre head..." She said sorta fast.

I shot up and the rag on my head fell with a slight thump onto my lap. _**"WHAT!"**_ I yelled in her face.

"Well what can you expect, what you said to me wasn't nice." She said letting go of me and crossing her arms. She moved her hands to her hips. "There are some nice and generous people here that may want to meet you." She said.

"Fine..." I said regretful.

She got up. "Good." She said smiling. The person that walked up, or should I say people, were the two people I abulutly DID NOT want to see. Sonic... and that anoying little girl. 'Oh... goodie.' I thought looking at the two that were slightly smiling.

"Hay there Shadow!" Sonic said, my vision wasn't even perfect yet and I could still tell it was him. I didn't say anything. "Well anyways that girl you met earlier? well you should meet her properly." He said moving the girl closer to me. "Fine..." I said looking at her. "Ok get this over with who are you?" I said.

"My name is Kelen Robotnic." She said a slight lisp threw her missing teeth.

My eyes shoot open at the sound of her last name. "What was that?" I said.

Sonic smiled, "Thats right Shadow this is Kelen ROBOTNIC." He said giving EXTRA envesis on Robotnic.

'That is imposible...' I thought looking at this girl. 'How is this... this thing related to Geralt my creator and Eggman the evil scientist bent on ruling the world.' I grabbed Sonic. "Sonic can I talk to you alone?" I said angrily.

He shrugged. "Sure Shadow." He said. Everyone left the room, when Rouge started to head for the door I yelled at her "You too Rouge." I said sitting up straiter.

"Ok fine." She said walking over to me.

"How long was I knocked out?" I asked wanting ansers quick.

"Bout a week." Sonic said before Rouge.

My face and voice grew angrier. "Ok..." I said looking at them. "What year is it exactly?" I asked. They both shrugged.

"I don't know that on Shadow." Rouge said.

"Do you know how that girl is related to Dr. Eggman?" I asked just as angry.

Sonic stood up, "I don't know lets go ask." He said headed toward the door. Rouge grabbed him. "Hold it there you don't just ask about that stuff."

"Well how else are you supost to find out?" He asked stupidly.

"Don't ask the girl ask her mother or father or something." He said "I have to know what year it is... and if Eggman is still around." I said looking around the room. It looked as if it was the same time period everything simaler to what the chil;dren back home had, dumb little nick nacks...

"Why don't you?" Rouge said crossing her arms again.

"Fine it dosn't matter I will." I said getting up. Rouge pushed me down.

"No you don't." She said opemning the window. It was black outside. "If you wanted ansers you picked the worst time to wake up it is almost midnight." She said sitting down agein.

"Fine tomaro then." I said walking around a little. "Tomaro we get ansers and I will know where to go to fix this." I said partially to myself.

"What about us."

"I dont care." I said coldly. "Go look for your boyfriend Knuckles or something." I said looking at her. With that she stood and almost kicked me again but walked out of the room her head seemed to be steeming.

"Well well Shadow I didn't think you would say that." Sonic said getting up. "But eh what can you expect from you." He said smiling. He got out of the room just in time before I slamed the door on his thick skull. I sat down omn the bed, thinkiing. I looked at the time, it clicked to midnight. I lied down again and looked at the celing. "Tomaro then." I said as sleep over took me.


	9. More questions then Answers

I awoke the next morning my head was still pounding, thanks to Rouge... I got up and realized that the sun was pooring into my room. 'How long was I asleep?' I thought as I walked outside of my room. I looked around, no one was where I was, it was just a hallway leading off to other bedrooms. I walked down the hallway, the air from the wind that blew through the open doors and windows gave me a chil. When I was knocked out someone removed my jacket and now being a ...human... I had no fur to keep me warm, just my black shirt and blue denim pants.

At the end off the hall was a large room full of couches where the others were sitting and eating breakfast... then again I woke up so late they could be eating lunch... The first to notice me was whoelse Sonic. He smiled and waved his hand in the air. **"MORNING SHADOW!"** He shouted at me. 'Just what I want to see in the mornig..._ Sonic_.' I thought silently walking toward the kicken. Rouge beet me there and shoved a muffin in my face. I pushed it out of the way. She shuved in my face again, and yet again I moved it, I don't need to eat espetially not some stupid muffin. I walked past her.

"Shadow come on you have to eat SOMETHING!" She shouted at me walking behind me.

"No I don..." I said before I was cut off by Rouge shoving the muffin in my mouth. I had no choise but to swallow it. I ate it and looked at her. "There happy?" I said my face covered with muffin crums.

She crossed her arms, "You know a simple thank you would be nice." She said. I started walking past her and toward the mother of the girl who claimed to be related to the Robotnic family. Rouge stopped me again. "You know you should eat more, I have more of those Black Berry muffins." She said reaching for another. Although the muffin was... decint... I didn't want anymore what I wanted now was ansers. I shook me head and walked up to the mother.

"I need to know everything you know about Eggman..." I said, as soon as the words left my moth the mother panicked and covered my mouth with her hands. Kelen looked up and the mother smiled at her, and the girl went back to talking with Sonic.

"Sh..." She hushed me. "Do you klnow how long it took to make these people forget that name?" She asked letting go of my mouth. She looked at me and Rouge werily, "How do you know about him?" She questioned.

"I will tell you AFTER you tell me what you know about Eg..." I stopped. "What you know about him." I repeted.

She crossed her arms and looked at me. She walked into the hall way with me close behind her. Rouge followed her as well she was just as curious as I was about it. When we were at the end of the hall the woman sighed. "I will tell you what I know but you have a lot of explining to do after words." She said waving her index finger and me, partially at Rouge.

"Fine just get to the point?" I said crossing my arms, waiting for her to tell me what this was all about.

She sighed a littoe again and mde sure that her daughter wasnt listening in. "Dr. Eggman, as you may know him by, was evil, he lived in the warn out building on the other side of town. That is where he did his experament and where he hid himself from the world until time was right." She said pausing. "It is true that we are related to him but I don't even know how." She continued. "He comes from her fathers side and is in the roots of a very large family tree.

"The legend I herd was that after the hero blue hedghog named Sonic, just like your friend, and the evil black hedgehog named Shadow ,just like yourself, well after they disapered the world went into chaos. Others were said to disapered too after that, and I don't know Eggman but I know that only he would make them vanish like that. Eggman pursured taking over the world without a moments notice, concuring the world and making the Eggman empire. People used to question if the evil still ran in the family, but as far as I know it has stopped many years ago." She said pausing again, looking to see if Kelen was listening in.

Rouge was just as suprised as I was but she showed her suprise I had it hidden and my face expretion didn't change. What she said was right, Eggman wouldn't hesitate to take ofer the world after Sonic 'disapered'. "What happend? Is the world still in the Eggman Empire?" I asked coldly, I remember Eggman calling his future empire that on many occations but I never thought he could, or would sucseed.

"Sh..." She said hushing me again. "I don't want anyone knowing this. It took many generations to make people forget about it and even now people shiver at the sound of Robotnic." She said in a hushed voice. "What happend next no one is sure, most say that the Eggman empire lasted until Eggman died, but some say that a hero stepped in and saved us all." She continued. "But as for the Empire no it ended over 600 years ago, witch is why I want to know how..." She was cut in by me and Rouge almost at the same time. _**"DID YOU SAY 600 YEARS!?!?!?!?!?!?" **_

After that Kelen came into the hall. "Mommy what are you yelling about?" She asked her missing teeth causing a lisp.

"Nothing sweety go back to your friend Sonic." She said smiling at her daughter. She turned to us when Kelen walked back to Sonic. "Yes 600 years, why?" She asked us.

"Why? Because..." I started but Rouge cut me off. "Because before we were sent here, Eggman was still alive, and what you say is true that means we skipped out 600 years..." She said skipping the part about us being turned to humans. The lady looked at us like we were crazy. "Right... you expect me to belive that a bunch of teenagers where sent over 600 years into the future?" She asked putting her hands on her hips.

"It dosn't matter if you belive us or not, that dosnt change the fact that it is true." I said looking at her crossing my ar,s. "That is how we know about him, I worked for him for a while..." The woman looked at us she grabbed my rist and Rouges rist and dragged us down the hall. " **I WILL NOT HAVE ANYONE WHO WORKED FOR THAT HORID MAN STAYING AT MY HOUSE!**" She said pushing us outside.

"Hay guys where you goin..." Sonic started but the woman pointed at him, "That meens you to spuncky!" She souted pushing Sonic outside. "And to think that you people where in my home." She said slaming the door on us."

"What happened?" Sonic said rubbing the back of his head.

I ignored him and pounded on the door, "Just let us explain!" I yelled at the door. She opened the door and threw my jacket at me. "You people get away from here" She yelled slaming the door again.

We stood there and looked at the door. "What was that all about!" Sonic shouted to break the silence.

"She found out that sunshine here and I worked for Eggman." Rouge said ponting at me. I crossed my arms and looked at Sonic.

"Well what about me I never did anything to help Eggman." Sonic said pointing to himself.

"Dosn't matter she dosnt trust us, and soon no one here will." I said looking around at all the people staring at us. "Come on." I said walking away from the house.

"Shadow where are you..." Rouge started.

"It dosn't matter right now anywhere I pick is better then here." I said walking toward Eggmans base. "Come with me if you want I don't care just stay out of my way." I said walking faster. Sonic shrugged and followed me. "Ok sounds okj with me." He said following me. After a while Rouge ju,mped up and ran after us. "Guys wait for me!" She shouted after us.

I turned to see Sonic and Rouge but further back I saw a pair of purple almost amithist eyes watched us from a little while back. They where to far to tell who it was but I could tell they had red hair and those familier purple eyes. I ignored it was walked on, spuncky Sonic and well...Rouge... walked behind me and the red haired boy, almost unoticed, followed us.

((sorry if it isnt a good place to stop but i am tired of typing and it is my 3ed chapter posted in 3 days...))

* * *


	10. New Questions and A New Target

I lead Sonic ad Rouge down the streets headed to Eggmans old rusted base. Every now and then I would look back and see the red haired boy folowing us. He stayed a good 2-3 hundred fett behind us the whole time. Good the less. . . . .people with me the better. We walked down the street, every time we passed a new person they shot a glance at us, a black and red haird teen in a black and red jacket, a white haired teenager in an almost skin tight leather suit, and the most anoying blue haired spunky THING that ever lived. With every glance I shot a glare at them and they soon looked away. 'Pathetic humans. . . .' I thought 'Can't even stand on of their own glaring at them. . .'

We were soon at the base, the hole trip was silent, everytime Sonic opened his big mouth to talk I told him to 'Shut up if you know whats good for you.' We stood outside the old rusted building, I walked in and Rouge followed me but Sonic just stayed still and looked at it.

"So THIS is Eggheads base?" he asked.

"Yes." I said anoyed, "Now hury up."

"It seems. . . diffrent." he said walking in behind Rouge.

I stopped and looked back at him. "Your stupitidy conserns me." I told him.

Sonic just shrugged and walked past me. "So what are we doing here anyways?" he asked in the most anoying tone ever.

"We are here because. . . . ." I started to say but I didn't know why we where there. . . what was the purpose of being back at the lab? "We are here because we have no where else to go." I finally finished.

"So what we just stay here, hiddig in the lab?" Rouge asked, she stopped and ran her finger ageinst the wall, when she took it off her gloved finger was brown insted of white from all the dust. Her face went blank, she didnt need to say anything her face expresion said it all.

"We stay here until I say we leave." I said pointing to myself. "You are welcome to leave at any time, I dont care but I will find a way out of here and if you arnt here when I figure it out I am going back without you." I hissed at her.

"Well well Shadow I didn't think you would be so cruel." she said her voice seemed. . . smoother now. "Leaving me here all by myself." she said she gave me a puppy dog eyes look.

I looked at her ignoring the sad attemt, "Well think again because I can and I will." I said coldly, I stopped and looked at her her puppy dog eyes disapered and became more angry, "And you wont be alone you will have. . . that." I continued. I pointed to Sonic as I was saying 'that', he was standing by a wall and appered to be in deep thought, for once. . . he poked it slightly and a giant matal box came crashing down on him, he dogded it and looked at the wall, smiled, and started poking it again. . . more boxes fell on him every time he touched the wall. 'Ideot. . .' I thought.

"Hm... Lucky me." she said flatly. She clearly hated the idea of being stuck with Sonic as much as I did.

I just glarred at her, I walked towards the stairs of the rusted lab, she just looked at me, "So what do we do?" she asked. I stopped but didnt look at her, "Like I said do whatever you want but if you arnt here when I find a selution I am leaving without you." I said continuing to walk on. I walked and almost got to the stairs when Sonic cut me off.

"Haya Shadow where are you goin?" he asked. I stood there and pushed him out of the way. "Wherever I want." I said.

Rouge had her arms crossed, "Well I am leaving now. If you need me then I will be in the park or something." she said cross with what I told her, she turned and started walking outside. If she was smart enough to keep her eyes open when she walked she wouldnt have run into the person standing there watching us talk, witch was more like a fight by now.

She looked up at the boy in frount of her. She dropped her arms when she saw who it was. He stood about half a foot taller then her, and his soft amethis eyes looked down at her. He had familer red dredlock typre hair that came to about his sholders and it was pulled back in a verry loose ponytail, the rest of him couldnt be seen Rouge was in the way. She looked at him for a few seconds, "Knuckles?" she asked, her voice sounded softer now then it ever was when she was talking to me or Sonic. He nodded, "Rouge?" he asked he seemed as suprised as she was, he looked diffrent but his voice was the same, she then quckly backed away when she realized how close she was to him.

"Well..." she said shaking her head a little, "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Knuckles shrugged a little, "I thought you could tell me that." Now I could see the rest of him, he had gloves like normal that still had two spiky knuckles on both of them. He had a red shirt almost the same color as his hair, in the middle was that white cresent shape that was always there but now it was on a shirt not his fur. He had blue jeans just as I did but his shoes were the same huge lego like shoes as always.

She crossed her arms again, she was disapointed with his anser clearly, "Well I would." she said pointing over to me, "But Shadow over there wont tell me anything." she explained.

He looked over at me, "Shadow?" he asked when he saw Sonic he schratched his head with his gloved hand, "Sonic?" he seemed to have more quetions now, "What the heck is going on here?"

I shook my head "I will let Rouge tell you that." I said and walked upstairs, leaving these lovebirds, and Sonic. . . alone, but not for long because Sonic was right behind me. I groand a little and walked upstairs, I could hear Rouge start to explain the story and our curent position to Knuckels as we went up.

I looked for the macine that sent us here and when I found it I started to go threw the files looking for pages that showed how the macine worked ignoring Sonic talking about nothing important. When I found all the files I could I stached them up and started to read them. The papers were yellow and half of it couldnt be read but I tried and learnd more then anyone there could tell me.

The ones with most use came from a jurnal:

_**The macine I build is for . . . travel. I plan on using this . . . . discovery to . . . . Sonic and. . . . . to another time zone so they wi. . . . out of my hair. . . . It runs off of a . . . . emerald. I sent Shad. . . get it for me. . . . . . **_

The next few sentances were unlegible and no words other then the short ones could be read, I paused for a moment and looked up at Sonic who was looking at the machine, I shook my head and continued to read.

_**It can use . . . . from the chaos . . . erald and turn it into per energy. . . . . thus creating. . . ultamite wepon.**_

The next few pages were just fragment that said only one of the emeralds would work. . . . the yellow one that I first givin to him. But where was it now? I fliped to the last page witch was the best condition of all the others:

_** Shadow. . . that fool is giving me. . . . key to his demise. . . . . The Eggman empire will soon be real. . . . .**_

that was the last of it. I knew how it got its energy. But now. . . how did it work, and could it send us to our normal time? I put the book down and started threw the other files throwing half away because they were unable to be read from aging. I now only had but a few files. I hoped that these held the key to us getting back.

I looked threw the files now only a few of them were any good. The files had original schetes of the machine. And one was all about the yellow chaos emerald. I skipped that one I knew enough about the emeralds. I stopped when I got the the one that I needed, it showed how to work the machine. I stood up and looked at the machin, Sonic looked at me, "Shadow whata doin?" he asked.

"Getting out of this human world." I said. The papers I found showed what every button did and what every nob set. I looked at the machin, it was dirty and grimmy but all the nobs that were needed were there. All that wasd missing was the chaos emerald to power it.

Sonic looked at what I had, before he could see the blueprints I shut it and turned. "Shadow what are you doing?" he asked again.

I walked past him and headed down stair, I could hear Rouge talking again and Knuckles occationally asking a question witch Rouge didnt have the anser. I opened the door to the room they were in and the two were sitting next to each other talking away like nothing was rong. Rouge looked over at me as soon as I entered, "Oh hay there Shadow, I was just telling him how we were kicked out of that ladies house REMEMBER?" she asked.

"We have more important things to do." I said I threw the blueprint on a rusted brown table near them. She picked it up and started to read it, "So what about it its an old matine so what?" I sighed and flipped to the page about the yellow chaos emerald. "Thats what." I said, she just looked at it as she read she seemed to understand more. She shook her head, "Shadow I dont think that this emerald is still on this planet." she said.

I crossed my arms and glared at her, "We are getting that emerald." I said "Wether we have to go around the world or into space we are getting that emerald.

Knuckles just crossed his arms and looked at me, "Why should we go threw all that to get one emerald?" He asked.

"The machine that will send us to our own time only works on ONE emerald..."

"And let me guess its this yellow one?" Rouge said cutting me off. I nodded.

"Well I'm game." Sonic said from behind us.

Knuckles looked at him, "Fine I will go..." he said grumbeling a little.

Rouge sighed, "Ok I will go but Im telling you Shadow this emerald might not be here anymore."

"We leave in the morning." I said ignoring her, the sun was now setting and stars were now coming up, t was to late to go now. "Get suplies but only bring what you can carry, Rouge." I said, the last thing we needed was 10 sutcases of her stupid cloughs.

Knuckles stood up and headed outside "Fine." he said simply. Rouge stood up and followed him, "Wait for me handsom." she said teasing him a little.

Sonic looked over at me, "Good luck with those emeralds." he said. I just looked at him and said nothing, he shrugged and ran off. Rouge and Knuckles went there way and Sonic went another way compleatly, maybe he would get lost and never come back. . . no that wish is to good for it to come true.

I walkedtowards the stairs agian and headed towards the roof. When I got the the hiest point I climed outside and lied on the roof, I put he hands behind me head and looked up at the sky. The stars could all be seen and the half a moon that Eggman TRIED to fix glowed n the darkness of the sky. I looked up into the sky and soon found myself falling asleep. . .


	11. Begginings of a Journey to My Past

I was awoken in the middle of the night by a loud echoy scream "MARIA!!!!" My red eyes shot open and I looked down from the roof to see what was going on. Nothing seemed to be different, 'What was that…..' I thought. I sat up and held my head with one hand, "That couldn't have been a dream… it was to real." I told myself.

I got up and went back inside, images of the 'dream' ran threw my head. I walked in the darkness of the base we were in. When I got to the others Sonic was in the corner lying on a box mouth open and he seemed to be drooling a little. 'Discussing human.' Knuckles was in another area of the room back against the wall hands behind his head, he appeared to be more in a thought then sleeping. Rouge however was on the other side of the room completely, she was curled up a little bit and she just lay asleep. I walked past them and walked to another room.

It was full of supplies and bags. I looked away from them and walked back to where everybody else was, I curled myself up as far away from the others as possible and fell asleep once again.

_I ran down a hall, a girl in a blue dress and blond hair held my hand and she looked terrified. I looked back lost in what was happening, G.U.N. solders followed us. I looked back at the girl who was leading me._

'_Is this………Maria?' I thought. We ran threw the seeming never-ending hallway. Windows on both sides and above us showed stars. We were on the A.R.K. in space. _

_We eventually stopped in a room, the girl slid a card threw a machine by the door and a few layers on the door shut. She walked to another machine and started to press buttons on it with one hand, the other was held in a nervous fist. "Maria….." I started to walk towards her, but a giant tube like container came around me, I pounded on it to get free but it was no use._

"_MARIA!" I shouted so she could hear me._

"_I'm sorry Shadow….." she said, her voice was scared and she held a lever._

"_No" my memories were coming back to me, this was the girl that I could remember no matter what happened to me I never forgot her but… who exactly was she._

_She clutched the lever, but before she could do anything the door she had locked exploded and a solder came bursting into the room. He scanned the room quickly then glared at Maria "Let go of the lever." He said to her, he had a gun pointed at her._

_She held it tighter. The solder got ready to shoot, "I'm telling you let go of the lever."_

_She put both hands on the lever, he move the gun a little, "Let go of the lever damn it!"_

_She pulled it down, a shot was fired, Maria fell to the floor, and the same echoy voice called, "MARIA!!!!!!!!"_

My memories and dream soon faded away and slipped my grasp when I was awoken by a blue haired, hyper active, fake. Sonic shook my shoulder and I punched him in the face, making it look like an accident.

He fell back and I opened my eyes to see what was going on. He held his face and sat up.

Rouge was behind him, she bent over to help him. Knuckles was the first to yell at me, "Shadow what did you do that for?" he shouted. I ignored him and looked around, they each had very large back-bags filled to the brim with supplies. I stood up and looked around, there was another back it lie in the corner. I didn't need instruction I walked over to it and picked it up.

Sonic was already up now he looked over at me and smiled, "Well Shadow are you ready to go?"

"Are you."

"We have been waiting a while for you to get up." Rouge said, she was no longer warring her skin tight leather suit but what she wore was more loose, and by the looks of it more conferrable coughs like she was going on a hike.

"Then lets go." I said coldly. I started outside. Knuckles Sonic and Rouge followed close behind. I soon stopped and looked back at them, "Well?" Sonic asked.

"Well what?"

"Where do we go now?"

I didn't say anything.

Sonic crossed his arms, "Well how are we suppose to know where to start?"

I looked at Knuckles and Rouge, "Well treasure hunters?" I said coldly.

Knuckles crossed his arms and Rouge put her hands on her hips, "Fine." The both said in sync. The started walking around a little and they stopped. "Witch way?" I asked annoyed.

Each pointed in the opposite way of the other. "This way." They said at the same time. I put my hand on my face in frustration and sighed. I looked at them, 'Where to start…' I thought.

I started to go the way Rouge was pointing, Knuckles dropped his hand and it went into a fist. "What's wrong with my way?!?"

Rouge snickered a little, "Because Shadow knows when I am right." She said giving a slight smile.

Knuckles clenched both his hands now, "I am telling you the emerald is THIS way!" he shouted at me.

I stopped walking and turned to face him. "If you are so sure then you can go that way." I said coldly.

Knuckles closed his eyes in frustration, he seemed to be thinking. "Well?"

Knuckles slowly started to walk towards Rouge, he stopped after a few steps. He looked up at Rouge, "Fine lets go." He seemed to force it out.

Rouge smiled a little bit more, she started to walk to the woods, "Alright then let's go." She said, "I will lead the way."

Knuckles ran ahead of her and stopped her, "No you don't bat girl, if you pick the way we go fine but I am going to lead the way." He said pointing to himself.

I pushed Knuckles and Rouge away from each other. "You're both wrong I am leading the way." I said walking in between them and towards the forest where Sonic was already standing and waiting for us. I didn't look back but I herd Rouge walk behind me without another word and I herd Knuckles mumble something then storm after everyone else.

I walked straight into the forest, 'This is going to be a long journey.' I thought, 'But it is the only way to get back home.'


	12. A Plan to Embark

We walked nonstop. I led the way with little to no help from the feuding treasure hunters behind me. Sonic and Knuckles talked a little about 'good times' and Rouge stepped in every now and then with a sassy remark, but I tuned them out. I couldn't stop thinking of that dream I had last night, or rather… the flashback.

It was so real, I started to remember more as we continued and the more I remembered the easier it was to tune everything else around me out.

'Maria….'

* * *

Shadow looked a little down, I tried to walk over to him but Rouge stopped me, "What?"

"Let Shadow think things through."

"Think them through?"

"He's thinking can't you tell?"

"Oh yeah and what makes YOU so sure?"

Rouge looked over at Knuckles when he said that, she crossed her arms and walked in front of him and over to Shadow and she made a face, at him. Nothing happened. She gestured toward him, "See? He's thinking."

"Then how does he not hit anything when he's walking huh?" Knuckles protested and walked over next to her and clapped, even with the gloves it was loud.

Nothing happened.

"See?" she said smiling, content with herself.

I walked over and pushed them aside, "No your doing it wrong watch." I said smiling, I shoved Shadows left shoulder, "Hey Shad--"

* * *

Sonic hit the floor with a thump, I grabbed his wrist and threw him over my shoulder and into a tree. He made my flashback end with a screeching halt and brought me back into this twisted reality.

I looked down at him quietly and walked past him. I herd Rouge and Knuckles go over to him, Rouge helped him up and sighed, "You're not hurt. Good."

"Shadow what the hell was that for?!"

"As strange as it sounds Knuckles is right Shadow, you can't go throwing Sonic around anymore, he's a human now remember?" she said with over exaggerated hand gesteres

"How could I forget." I grumbled.

"These floppy things can't hold up as well Shadow, you probably know that right?" Knuckles said. "Be careful we don't have anything but bandaged to take care of ourselves like this." He said pointing to his backpack.

I just walked on, not commenting, "Hurry up."

Sonic stood up and stretched and ran after me, he put a hand on my shoulder and I almost threw him again, "Hey Shadow."

"What." I hissed.

"What's got you so down?"

"Nothing let's keep moving.

Sonic just stopped and let me get a few feet in front of him before following me again.

Knuckles and Rouge were pretty far back and I couldn't really hear much of them anymore, just Sonic. Right behind me……..

Hours later I stopped and looked back, Sonic was still there. Like a puppy that won't go away. I looked past him and there was Knuckles and Rouge, Knuckles face was red and Rouge was just laughing. I shook my head and stood still waiting for them to catch up.

Knuckles looked at me and stopped as well, "……What?"

"You're red!" Sonic said laughing.

That didn't help his condition as he went more red, probably in frustration now. "I am not! Why did we stop?" he said looking at me angrily, clenching his hands into fists.

Rouge nudged him in the ribs still smiling, "Calm down Knuckles head, Shadow is odiously tiered."

I nodded "We need rest, as you said we're… humans."

"Yeah I guess." Knuckles said and dropped his back with a thump, obviously as a human he still had quiet a bit of strength, as I had speed still. I put my things down and sat quietly.

Sonic sat next to me and Knuckles and Rouge sat across so we were in a strange circle.

"So do you think anyone else got turned into a human?" Knuckles asked breaking the silence.

"I don't know." I said, "It seems like anyone who was directly affected was in or by the base when the travel started." I said looking at the leave-covered ground.

Sonic shrugged, "Well I guess… wait…. I was there following you to get the emerald back. And you were there following Eggman…. What were you guys doing there?" he said pointing to each one of us as he mentioned us.

Rouge crossed her arms, "What are you implying?"

"Nothing it's just that…"

"Stop it." I said cutting it before it got to far.

"Well for your information I found…"

"Stole." Knuckles corrected leaning back and relaxing himself.

"some nice gems…"

"MY gems."

"And so I simply…"

"Stole them."

"….." she was quiet just glaring at him, "I picked them up so I could add them to my collection. Hot head over here got mad and followed me all the way back to the base where I was doing undercover work..."

"You stole a sacred gem and then flew off with it, WHAT ELSE WAS I GOING TO DO!!" he yelled at her not relaxed anymore.

"Shut it." I said calmly glaring at both of them. I fixed my gaze to Sonic, "Does that answer your question."

"Well yeah but…"

"Good, now stop talking."

"But…."

"Make a fire." I cut him off, by now just the very TONE of his voice pissed me off.

He shrugged and started to pile some sticks up, "Do we have matches….."

They all worked it out and started a fire, I just looked at it. "So are we closer to the emerald?" I asked.

"Well…. I hate to admit it but yeah. The more we go on the more I sense it." He said.

"Ha! And YOU wanted to go the other way!"

"It's not like there's only ONE emerald!! There coulda been one that way!!"

"Face it you were wrong!" she said smiling clearly getting a kick out of this.

"So long as we get it, it doesn't matter." I said.

"Oh yeah?" he said looking back at me. "What happens when we find it?"

"We take it back, reveres the engineering of the machine and power it up again." I explained.

"Ok then, HOW do we do that? I can't work that stuff, Rouge can't work that stuff, Sonic DEFANITLY can't work that stuff, and I dought even YOU can work that stuff." He said pointing at me, although you could really see with his glove.

"Well then we simply find someone that can."

"Oh yeah? Who?"

"We find someone, I have an idea but…. If it doesn't work then we improvise and find someone else, this world has billions of living things on it, something on it has to be able to make it work."

"That sounds simple enough." Rouge said stepping in, "But what happeneds when we find that person and they fix it, would they go back with us to?"

"I'm only worried about getting back to my normal self, I could care less about that."

"Shadow." She said crossing her arms, "This is a different world it's been 600 years. Can't we just see what is here?"

"No. I'll see it myself in 600 years when I age myself in my NORMAL body."

"But if you go back in time the future will be changed, it'll never be the same." Knuckles said.

"….I don't care."

"Can't we see something at all? Medicines. Technology. You can get a gun or something, don't you care?" Rouge said.

"No."

Rouge lay down frustrated. "Fine, whatever. I don't care, do what you want."

I looked at Knuckles who was just starring at me angrily, as normal. "Go to sleep. You'll need the energy." I semi ordered.

He just lay down without a word.

I looked at Sonic, he was long gone. On his back sprawled out asleep. I got up and walked into the edge of the very small area we found, as far from them as possible, and lay down and curled up to keep warm... I felt a blanket over me and looked to see Rouge lay back where she was again.

I just curled up slightly again and rested my head on the leaves on the ground and sighed slightly, glad I had my jacket now. It was going to be cold and this body wasn't gong to be able to cope with it like usual. But before I knew it, I was drifting off, apparently I was more…. tiered… then I…… thought……..


	13. Findings of a Lost Reality

_'Shadow come on you're going to miss all the fun.' said a girl standing next to me, she had the same golden hair and silky blue dress as the girl in my previous dream. Maria.._

_We were walking down a hall holding hands and she was leading the way, everything looked familiar but I couldn't walk away from her or say anything I was just an observer, I felt myself talking but I couldn't hear what I said. I was to focused on asking where we were going. That wasn't what I said though._

_'Shadow you can't miss this, it'll be so pretty.' she said in a very delicate voice as she turned into another hall.  
_

_Everything was so peaceful, and so... real. I felt the floor under my feet, I felt her hand, I felt everything. I tried to reach out but I couldn't. I walked with her and we stopped in a large bubble like dome where all of the stars where... _

_"Shadow...here...told...see" I didn't hear everything it was starting to fade.  
_

_The scene changed the same hall we were in before. Running, she was pulling my and breathing hard trying to escape, I tried to stop and pull the girl in a different direction, or to warn her or something but I couldn't change anything. _

_I could hear the footsteps behind us..._

_She went into the same room as before and I was put into the same escape pod..._

_The solder came in..._

**_Bang._**

_"MARIA!!"_

I shot up breathing heavily, the blanket fell and the cold morning air soaked threw my jacket and on my skin. I looked at Sonic Rouge and... no Knuckles. I didn't care though, I couldn't stop thinking about that. I wiped the cold seat off of my forehead and just sat there looking at the ground quietly, remembering the dream and replaying it through my head.

I closed my eyes and lay down again in a huff pulling the blanket over me again and turning on my side to face the forest.

A few moments later I herd the treasure hunter run into the 'campsite' he wasn't very quiet. He looked aorund and I closed my eyes pretending to be asleep, and breathing deep to also help me calm down.

He made no noise for a few moments and then relaxed, "I could have sworn I herd something..." he said to himself and sat down and putting something down. 'Did I say that out loud...' I wondered but didn't move.

I herd a noise, and then felt warmth behind me from the newly lit fire. Knuckles didn't move, I thought he left and almost got up but he moved a little probably laying down. With the light behind me I realized then how dark it was, and how cold it was. I figured it was close to dawn so I simply waited for the first signs of light, when we'd leave.

* * *

Again I was more tiered then I thought and was woken by a shove. I turned t see Knuckles waking me up this time, "..."

"Hey... why didn't he hit you?" the blue haired Sonic asked.

I glared at him, was he really that stupid to need to ask that?

"Come on Shadow it's starting to warm up we need to get going." he said.

I stood up and Rouge had given me some sorta of bread like food, "Of all the people to sleep in...Don't make me force feed you now Shadow." she said winking.

I just grabbed the food and forced it down, it was the most welcomed human food I've ever eaten. Idiotic body. It took a few moments for me to get accustomed again and I looked at Knuckles, "What time is it?"

He shrugged, "9?" he asked.

That _was_ a surprise, I never slept in at all, I really ever slept. I nodded though not showing any hint of surprise on my face or in my response, "Witch way.

Rouge answered this time, "It just this way, Knuckles says it's close but..."

"Then what are we waiting for let's go!" Sonic said waving toward the direction Rouge had mentioned.

I nodded and started to lead the way as I lugged my backpack onto my shoulders, the blanket I had earlier was already packed up and so was everything else by the looks of it. "How close is close?" I asked.

"Actually it felt closer this morning then it did yesterday. I went out this morning to look for it more and well it's a lot closer."

I nodded, so that's what he was doing. But how could it be closer... was it with someone? Or was Knuckles just getting his control over his 'connection' with the emeralds again. It didn't matter even I could tell we were close now.

"So Shadow why'd you sleep so late?" Sonic asked walking so close behind me he was nearly stepping on my feet.

"It's this body."

"But none of US slept late." he said giving my a flat tier and I fixed my foot back into my shoe with the next abnormally long step.

"Well then that must mean you were so weak to start with there was no time needed for getting accustomed to the human body..."

"Hey now wait a minute, are you saying..." Knuckles started and came at me with a fist while shouting a few other things, but I was to fast and side stepped just in time.

"There's no need hiding a truth." I said and continued on, he came at me again but someone stopped him, Sonic or Rouge and we were continuing on with just a few words from the fuming Knuckles.

Something grabbed my shoulder and I was expecting to turn to Knuckles punching me in the face so I turned and was ready to react but he seemed... somewhat calm and he was pointing to the ground from what I could tell. "This is it."

"...What?"

"This is it. The emerald, it's strongest here it is here."

"Where is it?" Sonic asked.

I looked around, there was no hint that it was there at all and I looked around quietly for any hint of a emerald looking thing. "..." there was literally nothing, it looked exactly as it did everywhere else, but he was right the emerald was there. "It must be underground... can you to still dig?"

"Well... I guess I can but..." he stammered clearly not to sure if his human knuckles would take the same force as his normal ones did.

"Good. Then start digging." I said and walked away slightly giving them room.

"What? Just start digging now?" Rouge complained.

"Yes."

"But..."

"DIG!"

They started digging Rouge with her feet spinning into the earth, VERY slowly, and Knuckles on his hands and knees digigng further then she was. I turned to Sonic, but he wasn't there. I looked around and just hoped he didn't come back, but I didn't have such luck as he was next to me again smiling, "Shadow I found something!!"

"What?" I hissed.

"You gotta come see!" he said and ran off.

I sighed and followed and he lead me to a stone, it was carved in the shape of some sorta of hedgehog or echidna shape that stood up to my waist. It looked like it was made up of the same exact rock as the ones fond on Angel Island so I assumed it was an echidna. It's gloved hands where in fornt of it's chest and they were cupped and holding something but it was covered in vines. Even with the vines I could see something glowing a very familiar glow. I ripped the vines away quickly and picked up the cold stone it held in it's hands...


End file.
